Farmer’s guide to arrowroot farming / nduma
Mkulima today as a farmer when considering lucrative agribusiness ventures to get into, arrowroot farming will hardly top the list. We cover a farmer’s guide to arrowroot farming.
Several farmers will jump to poultry farming, crop cultivation, and sometimes dairy farming.
read more
Starting out in the mushroom farming guide
Maize seed varieties to consider this farming season
Farmer’s guide to arrowroot farming
With the increased demand for traditional African foods, it’s high time we changed our interest as farmers and diversified our farms. Here is a farmer’s guide to arrowroot farming and varieties to consider.
For Elisha Mukoya, a Mumias mixed farmer this is the key for his farming success story. He is a mixed farmer in Mumias, Kakamega county who grows conventional crops like maize, onions, tomatoes, and sugarcane just as many of us do on our farms.
In Arrowroots farming, popularly known as ndoma or nduma, he has found his golden goose that lays the golden eggs.
Arrowroots are cheap to grow with the cultivation of an acre requiring an initial capital of Kshs 50,000.
The Kshs 50,000 an acre is if you own the farm. Seeds for the arrowroots are acquired once in a lifetime renewed every seven months.
Returns on investment
Your profits from an acre of land will greatly depend on your farm’s location and labour costs. The profits from the sale of mature stems are 250,000 Kenya shillings. The other source of income is from the sales of the suckers.
One stem of an arrowroot plant can produce between six to 10 suckers.
With good management and farm practices, the minimum amount of profits should be 250, 000 shillings. This is because the more you harvest the suckers the more they will grow.
There is no clear way to calculate how the stem grows and how much you will be able to earn as a result of how random the nature of the plant’s growth and mother nature.
The estimates given are for a farming period of seven months.
Simply known as the arrowroots farmer, Elisha started out growing arrowroots on a quarter an acre some two and a half years and now farms six acres of the tuber crop.
He also supplies hundreds of farmers across the country with its growing stems, carving a niche for himself amongst the foremost authorities on arrowroot farming in Kenya.
Varieties
“Picking uniform and an appropriate variety of arrowroots to grow for your region will determine the success of your venture months later,” Elisha says.
All cultivars planted on the same plot of land should be of the same variety– this ensures the entire crop is harvestable at the same time.
Poorly sourced stem cuttings can be disease vectors while badly prepared suckers, ie those whose tubers and leaves are not precisely cut are more susceptible to disease attacks and rotting as well as being ineffectual propagation material.
The main arrowroots grown in Kenya are Dasheen, Eddoe, and Hybrid varieties, each with their particular pros and cons.
Darsheen
Elisha sorely grows dasheen arrowroots. He opted for the variety given it matures in seven months; the shortest time taken by all arrowroots.
Dasheens are favored by large-scale buyers for their ideal size with each tuber weighing about half a kilogram. Being that it grows in upland regions, it requires reasonable irrigation to thrive, meaning it is rarely affected by rot which is the main hazard for most arrowroot farmers.
Dasheen also grows up to six times more suckers than the Eddo and Hybrid varieties making its propagation easier for farmers.
It is characterized by dark green leaves and stems that grow up to 75cm tall. It is whitish when cut at its roots with fading spots and is powdery when cooked.
Eddoe
Eddoe arrowroots grow in wet regions, weigh on average one kilogram and take nine to eleven months to reach maturity. They have yellowish/orange stems that grow up to one meter tall and their tubers are blue/white or a mix of both with clear spots. Given their growing conditions they are more easily susceptible to rotting.
Hybrid
Hybrid arrowroots are jumbo-sized weighing up to two kilos per tuber. To achieve this, however, their period to maturity is 15-16 months. They have distinctly tall stems that grow up to two meters.
Getting started
Arrowroot suckers should be planted with manure from cows, goats, or sheep. This will quicken its early-stage growth.
New planting techniques such as using trenches, make weeding easier and maximizes the use of the farmland.
Arrowroots should be spaced one foot between each set of two stems and two and a half feet between each line. Close spacing hinders the fattening of tubers leading to premature growth–tubers will need to be harvested in four to five months– before they are fully developed.
Planting and harvesting seasons should be synchronized to rain patterns.
Plantlets are sown at the onset of rains, i.e., March/April to be harvested during the drier August to September months.
Elisha utilizes Mumias’ favorable climate to have two growing seasons. Using stems, rather than suckers, which mature faster (five to six months) as the planting material over the November and December short rains
Borrowing from experience he recommends farmers use cow or goat dung for manuring’ this he applies a handful of per hole during planting. “Chicken or pig manure I have found to be more appropriate for growing vegetables, but when applied to arrowroots there is poor bulking of tubers and returns are poor,” he points out.
Arrowroots need sufficient watering and fertile soils. About 30 percent of potential yields are lost if the irrigation levels are insufficient. However, contrary to popular belief, Elisha says farmers should not grow arrowroots on stagnant water as this often rots tubers.
Starter farmers will need to source for planting stems, an acre requires about 12,000 stems which will set one back about Sh60,000. Mukoya delivers stems to farmers across the country at five shillings a stem.
Markets
Marketability is determined by the quality of your arrowroots; this is dictated by proper feeding and management. For large-scale farmers, dasheen arrowroots are preferable for being medium-sized which is the tuber size most buyers demand.
Formerly Elisha dealt with consumers directly but has had to rely on brokers as his quantities of arrowroots have increased. He is currently selling a 110-kilogram sack of arrowroots for Sh7500.
The challenge for most small-scale farmers is it is uneconomical to source for markets given they can only deliver small quantities at a time.
Management
Farmer’s guide to arrowroot farming. Proper feeding is ultimately what will determine the quality of your arrowroots. Topdressing should be done between the second and third months after planting. This is done by applying NPK inorganic fertiliser. A 50-kilogram bag adequately caters to one acre.
To have your arrowroots flourishing and eventually have sizable tubers you will need to stick to a strict schedule. Weeding will need to be done at least four times before harvest.
As arrowroots grow below ground Elisha warns farmers not to wait until weeds are visible or the planted stem sprouts above ground to weed them out.
While weeding, earthing up should be practiced, burying the growing stem helps spur their growth. Consistent weeding also helps loosen the soil, freeing the tuber and allowing it to enlarge.
Compacted soils hinder expansion meaning the plant will focus on maturing, this leads to poorly filled arrowroot tubers. It is as well important to check on the hygiene of your farm.
Arrowroot
“It is important that arrowroots are given time to fully mature; early harvesting gives soggy or hard tubers that are impossible to cook,” Mukoya advises.
The final two months are especially important in this regard allowing the tubers to harden. The arrowroots should not be watered during this time as this could cause rotting, rather they should be left to bake in the biting sun and stiffen up.
Credit: Elisha Mukoya: 0708900187/0714553329
Having an agribusiness question? Do you know of a successful agribusiness venture or story that you wish to share? I would like to hear from you. Send me the TIP(s) at mkulimatoday@gmail.com
Like and follow MkulimaTODAY on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Group share this article and leave comments or questions or WhatsApp me +254700761190 on what you would like me to answer in the next article.
